Extending Primary Care to Underserved Areas Using Community Paramedics
Why not expand EMT functions to include basic health services?
The functions of paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are, generally speaking, well known. We depend on these first responders to provide aid in medical emergencies. They endeavor to stabilize grievously injured or ill patients and then transport them to hospitals.
There are swaths of places in our country where medical services are ample. There also are areas in which help is scant. EMTs, of course, operate in both.
So why not expand EMT operations in medically underserved places to include some basic public health and primary care functions?
It’s already being done in towns like Crawfordsville, Indiana. “Typically an ambulance arrives to find a person in mid-crisis and requiring immediate care. But this new approach — called community paramedicine — aims to prevent emergencies in the first place. Several people consider it the most developed program in the state (of Indiana), and it’s garnered national attention.” (1)
“Community paramedics generally focus on:
Providing and connecting patients to primary care services
Completing post hospital follow-up care
Integration with local public health agencies, home health agencies, health systems, and other providers
Providing education and health promotion programs
Providing services not available elsewhere in the community” (2)
Program benefits include: “reduced hospital admissions, decreased emergency room readmissions, lower treatment costs, limited patient exposure, check-ins on demand, and peace of mind for families.” (3)
Other positives are said to be: “reducing the burden on other providers, reducing unnecessary transports, increasing access to primary care, improving quality of life, and supporting mobile integrated health care.” (4)
I’ll close with a last look at Crawfordsville. As part of Project Swaddle, rural residents can obtain prenatal care for expecting mothers and, subsequently, well baby checks for their newborns, all at home – and all provided by trained community paramedics. (1)
Sources:
(2) https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/community-paramedicine#definition
(3) https://fieldmed.com/6-benefits-of-community-paramedicine-in-home-health-services/
(4) https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/community-paramedicine/1/benefits
Background:
http://pehsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/PEHSC-CP-Whitepaper_Production-Copy.pdf
https://www.ninthbrain.com/resources/the-community-paramedicine-model/
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